Audacity

This sermon was heard at The Federated Church in Weatherford, Oklahoma on Sunday July 24, 2016, the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

I love that over the past eight weeks we have had an opportunity to get to know one another better. Some of you I have gotten to know better than others. Over the next couple of months, I hope to rectify that further. Today I am going to share another bias with you, I am a fan of the New Revised Standard Version of the bible. There’s nothing wrong with the New International Version, but sometimes it loses some of the nuance the New Standard Revised keeps. Then again, there are times I prefer the NIV over the NRSV, and last week I showed used the New Living Translation, so I do tend to look around and see what’s faithful to the original text and what’s not. The reading from Hosea got a white-washing from the New International Version.

The NIV reads… “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” Yes, I called that white-washed.

In the NRSV that same half of Hosea 1:2 goes like this… “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”

No good editor likes to use the same word three times in the same sentence, but who says the Lord needs an editor? I won’t say the NIV sounds appealing, what with promiscuous, adulterous, and unfaithfulness, but each of these words have different shades of “bad” in English as we read them. I mean it’s not good, but it could be worse, right?

The New Revised Standard gives us the “what’s worse,” whoredom, whoredom, and great whoredom. Perhaps the most concentrated use of the word “whoredom” in scripture. It’s a blue ribbon for Holy Writ! We have reached maximum whoredom.

Another translation I find useful is the New American Standard Version because it provides a very good word for word translation. The Hebrew here is translated as harlotry, harlotry, and flagrant harlotry. What’s flagrant harlotry? Is it like basketball where you get two shots from the line and the ball back when your team gets a flagrant harlotry foul? Whatever it is, Israel has done it. Mazel tov Israel, the Lord is done with you.

Gomer bore Hosea three children. The first is named Jezreel, named after a nation of people wiped off of the face of the earth. The second is named Lo-Ruhamah which means “no love” or “no pity.” Their third child is named “Lo-ammi.” The NIV says this means “not my people.” The NRSV doesn’t offer up the translation in parentheses, it goes straight to the explanation, “you are not my people and I am not your God.”

Over the past couple of weeks we have sung, “Seek Ye First.” The second verse goes like this:

Ask and it shall be given unto you,
seek and you shall find;
knock and the door shall be opened unto you -
Allelu, alleluia!

These words come loosely from today’s Luke reading. This is often used to tell people that if you only ask, God will provide. This has given way to something called “The Prosperity Gospel.” Prosperity proponents see faith as a contract, not a covenant between God and God’s own. If we have faith, God will deliver us not only in the heavenly realm but here on earth with security, health, and prosperity. If we act in faith, God will deliver. So if you give, God will give you wellness and wealth. I believe the scriptural term for this is “hogwash,” or at least it is in Arkansas, home of the Razorbacks.

But you know, these words are in scripture, so what do we do with them? First, we keep them with the words that precede them. This a parable about a man whose guest arrives late at night, so late that he didn’t have any bread to serve when he arrives. So he goes to see if his neighbor has three loaves. He knocks. He knocks loud. He knocks hard. He knocks often.

His neighbor is ticked off, and who wouldn’t be. It’s after midnight, and while the man wasn’t up watching Colbert (again, my preference) he had to get up early in the morning to work and work hard. The kids were in bed, with him. That was a cultural thing. Houses didn’t have rooms and beds for everybody. Getting up is a bother. Getting up would wake the kids. Then again, it’s not like the knocking and yelling is helping anybody sleep.

Now here’s an instance where I prefer the New International over the New Revised, the NRSV says the man with the guest will get bread because of his “persistence.” In the NIV the man gets what he needs because of his “shameless audacity.” Everything else being equal, give me the more expressive translation. Yeah, shameless audacity. Jesus tells his disciples to pray like this man asks his neighbor for bread, with shameless audacity.

I have a friend, Dr. Steve, who once preached on prayer and used this children’s sermon. This is the condensed version.

Once upon a time on the Barbary Coast, a bunch of school children and their teacher were going to go to the beach for a picnic. They hoped and prayed for good weather because there was only one day they could picnic and if there was bad weather there would be no picnic that Spring. Well, the big day came and it was pouring rain so the picnic was cancelled and they were all disappointed. They all wailed and cried. BUT what they didn’t know is that because of the weather Pirates couldn’t come ashore, pirates who surely would have taken them and their teacher and made them all slaves. The End.

Notice I didn’t say it was a good children’s sermon. His lesson was that we should just pray “God’s will be done” because what God wants is best for us. As far as it goes, I can’t disagree that what God wants is best for us and we must pray God’s will be done. We’ve just prayed “God’s will be done,” it would be foolish to preach against that. There’s nothing audacious here except for the nightmare ending, but there has to be more.

Did Hosea pray to God, “Golly Lord, thanks for telling me to wed this promiscuous woman, er, whore of whoredom, ah, I mean harlot?” No, I can’t imagine that was a good time at family dinner during the Shabbat either, “Mom, Dad, this is Gomer. Yes, I know her name means “complete” but the Lord is done with us as a nation, so it’s appropriate. Look I brought wine! (Gomer, Strong’s Concordance, 1584)” I can’t imagine that was a nice dinner at all.

This is the life of the prophet Hosea, with his harlot wife and children of harlotry named after the fate of Israel, flagrant harlotry; and how does our reading from this disaster end? Israel will be decimated, but… but the Lord prays, “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

Now that’s a prayer you don’t expect after whoredom, adulterous, and flagrant harlotry. Even the Lord prays with shameless audacity. What can come from shameless audacity? This is a piece of a letter from a Texan living in Chicago named Chris Ladd:

Watching Ronald Reagan as a boy, I recall how bold it was for him to declare ‘morning again’ in America. In a country menaced by Communism and burdened by a struggling economy, the audacity of Reagan’s optimism inspired a generation. (https://goplifer.com/2016/07/22/resignation-letter/)

Say what you will, Reagan had some audacity. Like him or not, Regan had some audacity. Right or wrong, and history will be the judge, Reagan had some audacity.

Like him or not, like his policies or not, Reagan was largely responsible for ending the Cold War. Agree with how he did it or not, Reagan was responsible for making the United States the last standing super-power in a world of tiny little despots and frightened rulers. Like it or not, agree with him or not, say what you will, audacity was not lacking.

Yes, we need to seek God’s will in our lives. We need to come together in prayer. We need to come together. We need to see where God is leading us and his church. As I said last week we need to sit at his feet, we need to be close so when God moves we can move with God. Yes, it begins with prayer, then it goes further.

As Jesus teaches us “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

We are called to pray for the greatest gift of all; not a car, nor a house, nor any other wealth which rots on this earth. We are called to pray to receive the greatest gift God can give us. His spirit. Come Holy Spirit. And through the Holy Spirit, we will be able to seek God’s will for our lives and the life of the Church which is his body. That is audacity at its most valiant.

Where the Light Is

This sermon was heard at The Federated Church in Weatherford, Oklahoma on Sunday July 9, 2016, the fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

While I ordinarily preach using scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary, this is Children's Sunday. The Federated Church just completed its "Fun with Bells (and Parables) Vacation Bible School. Keeping with the theme of the week, I am preaching the parable of the light and the basket.

Genesis 1:1-5
Luke 11:33-36

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer, amen.

This is one of those Sundays when there is too much to say and too many places to start. So let’s start here. Some people will say that the pulpit is no place to talk about politics. I will agree that the pulpit is no place to endorse a political candidate or a political party. Aside from the tax ramifications, which are important, it’s a bad pastoral move. It’s not my role to endorse anyone and you don’t want to hear it. But, to say the gospel is apolitical is misreading the gospel.

In ancient Rome, Caesar was Lord. Caesar was the master over the empire and ruler of all. The word of Caesar was life and death. To declare “Jesus is Lord” was a political statement. To say “Jesus is Lord” was to put the authority of somebody else before the Emperor and was punishable by death. The Romans were pretty lenient with religion; they didn’t care because it kept the locals happy. But to declare a living man was God and Lord of all was to challenge Caesar, and that wasn’t happening.

So if I should ever sound political that’s why and that’s what I consider before I say anything in the pulpit. Yes, the gospel is political.

This week has been a study of contrasts. It’s been hard wrapping my head around it. The news has been filled with lows and the church has been filled with highs! It’s not like we have turned a blind eye to the world, but Vacation Bible School has been glorious. To see the joy in the kids and the volunteers was wonderful!

When I was in Berryville, Arkansas, four churches came together for VBS and it was fun, but there were over a hundred kids and it seemed like as many parents and it became a huge production. Don’t get me wrong, it was great, but by the time it was done I was exhausted. The production was huge. And I didn’t really get to know any of the kids. This week, walking down the street, sitting in The Cup, playing “Telephone,” teaching lessons, hearing the bells, seeing the crafts, and just watching your children and grandchildren, and neighbors; I got to know the kids. I could see and feel the Holy Spirit at work. I could see joy in their faces. I didn’t see pride, I saw delight. Even playing there was love and cooperation and peace that surpassed my understanding.

To hear the questions, the comments, oh, it was so wonderful. We checked out the foundation in the baptistery and they asked me questions about baptism, so it’s probably time for that conversation for some of you.

Let me share this wonderful story, Zach saw the gaps in the Magill’s back patio wall and asked what they were, Terry told him they were to drain the patio after it rained and that very few people ever noticed them. As this was happening I was sitting next to Alice and said he was going to be a Detective someday. Alice suggested he could be an intelligence analyst. Let’s face it, the kid’s got a future.

Just to sit by the pool, watch the children play, watch Lisa juggle, drink a limeade; do you mind if I praise God that you called me to be your pastor? That you called Marie and I to come to Weatherford and The Federated Church? Thank you and praise God!

Then during the afternoons, I would go into the office and check the email. One of the joys of serving The Federated Church is that for four generations, you have figured out how to be one Body of Christ with first two and then three Christian denominations under one roof. You figured that out. God knows the Presbytery hasn’t figured it out, just ask Jody and Bruce, they’ll tell you. You have found the way. The flipside of that is that with three denominations I get triple the newsletters and triple the action alerts. Because of the violence in Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and Dallas this week, that’s been a lot of reading.

Just to add more blood to this fiasco, while editing the sermon, Marie told me about two more on Saturday, another shooting in Alabama and the incident at the Dallas Police Headquarters.

Some of those emails asked how I was planning to modify today’s worship and sermon. Well let’s start here, I wasn’t planning on telling you about my email. I was planning on a lovely extended children’s message. Lighter than usual, a pleasant change for everybody. To help, some folks provided ideas for worship. These included links and letters and resources. These provided food for thought. There was a lot of good information. Some suggestions. A couple of suggestions those weren’t very subtle either.

This quote came from Texas Governor Greg Abbot during a Friday afternoon press conference, “We as a people need to move forward and live our everyday lives knowing that Texas is going to be greater going forward unaltered, unaffected by this act of cowardice.” (Dallas mayor and Texas governor address shooting, http://finance.yahoo.com/video/dallas-mayor-texas-governor-address-001007137.html, retrieved July 9, 2016. Remark found at 11:30.) Really, as a city, as a society, as a people, we need to move forward unchanged, unaffected after a peaceful protest is shattered by sniper fire? The Dallas Police Department, I can’t say they supported the protest, but they supported the rights of the protesters. Then these protectors became victims of this heinous act of cowardice and we’re going to be greater going forward unaltered and unaffected?

I was shown other more conciliatory words from the Governor later in the day. More polished, but not from a dais, not from a microphone. These words came first.

In this great nation we have killings in schools and in movie houses, in homes and in the streets. Police and civilians are killed by police and by civilians. First degree murder and justifiable homicide, warranted and unwarranted killings and for the love of God a seminary classmate from Dallas buried her mother and two cousins last year because they were shot and killed in a House of God. They were members of the Emmanuel AME Church. They are three of the Charleston Nine.

Still we are told we “need to move forward and live our everyday lives knowing that [our world] is going to be greater going forward unaltered, unaffected.” We live our everyday lives unaltered, unaffected, like nothing has changed because nothing has changed. And if we continue to live like this nothing will change. Violence and hatred and rage and darkness will be a way of life until something drastic changes. Unaltered and unaffected is the last thing we need to be.

Like I said, it’s been quite a week.

I try to be subtler than this in my sermons, but one of the things I do is work through the musical question, “So what?” Well, so this…

Jesus said, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy (the NIV text note says this could mean ‘generous’), your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy (the NIV text note says this could mean ‘stingy’), your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.” You should have seen it here this week. You got a taste of it earlier. There was a light shining that glowed from within these kids. There was a light that glowed, reflecting the light of the Holy Spirit that burns.

I was filled with such joy because I got to be a part of it! What a privilege! What an honor! These kids were so generous with their love for God and for one another. They shared what they had. They shared time and energy. They made sure no one was left behind. They laughed together, they learned together, and, during the parable of the Good Samaritan, when they discovered the smelly kid in their class at school was their neighbor too, they paused together. At that moment, they became more generous with who they thought was their neighbor. Their light became healthier.

These kids are so generous. They submitted to the Word of God and to learning and the bells and the crafts and most of all to one another. Kids that didn’t know each other on Tuesday were friends on Thursday. The light that shined was full and bright. At the food bank they came to realize that the poor not only needed bread and cereal, but baby formula and toilet paper. The epiphany was obvious; poverty means more than they knew. Generosity means more than they know.

Yes, they learned that they will goof, to use grown up words, that’s the nature of sin. In a world that spends so much time and energy on mayhem, murder, and bedlam, in that darkness there is light. In a world where my internet news feed is 85% chaos or Kardashian, in that darkness there is light. These wonderful children, who live in this circus learned that by love of God, the grace of Jesus Christ redeems the world and their “whole body [will be] full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on [them].”

I saw that in a world full of darkness, the light still shines.

Terry taught them a song, “This little light of mine/I’m gonna let it shine/Not gonna hide it under a bushel/Gonna let it shine on everybody/I’m gonna let it shine. The light shines and we are called to take that light and shine in the world. Genesis tells us, the Lord created the light and separated it from the dark. That’s what the Lord was doing here all this week, taking the light and separating it from the dark.

For those of you who weren’t here last week I asked, “What’s your story?” This is mine. This is a time when Jesus and the church made a difference in my life. During a week when the darkness threatened to swallow everything, your children shined the light of Christ. The light of Christ shines and I pray it can be seen in my eyes. Don’t let your light rest in a place where it will be hidden, under a bowl. We all need to be able to share our light, and let it shine, and the children will lead us all.

Expert Authority

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church on July 25, 2010, the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Luke 11:1-15

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

It was about ten years ago when “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” hit American Television. Suddenly, Regis Philbin, “phone-a-friend,” and “is that your final answer” were all over primetime and the national conscience. That summer, one of my co-workers even told me that if she was ever on “Millionaire,” I was going to be her phone-a-friend. The reason was pretty obvious; I have this store of worthless knowledge that goes in a million directions.

In high school I was on our school district’s version of quiz-bowl, the number two player on my team two years in a row. In college I was a trivial pursuit champion. In the workplace, I was Google before Google was Google. With that, came certain authority. I was sought out as an expert on movies, music, science, sports, humor, darts, pipe tobacco, business law, finance, insurance, student development theory as it relates to liberal arts education, the Education Department General Administrative Regulations and geography of the United States and Canada. (Yeah, I didn’t date much.)

In ancient Judea, it was common for Rabbis to teach their disciples how to pray. Where the scribes and the Pharisees were in charge at the Temple in Jerusalem, the Rabbis were the leaders of small bands of disciples. It is sort of like a pastor-congregation relationship. I’m not saying to heck with the temple leadership in Little Rock and Louisville, but I am saying as a matter of fact, as standard operating procedure, that when basic questions arise, folks usually go to the Pastor or Elder or Deacon or Sunday School teacher before seeking a ruling from the Permanent Judicial Council.

Evidently John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray a certain way. He was their Rabbi, he was their teacher, he was their local expert and had the authority to teach them. From Luke’s gospel, at least one of Jesus’ disciples at least knew John had teachings on prayer. He must have heard about ir or read the brochure or something. So if John can teach his disciples to pray, surely Jesus could teach his disciples to pray too.

So Jesus taught his disciples to pray. He gives us five simple petitions:

“Hallowed be,” or “make holy” the name of the Father.

“May the Father’s Kingdom come.”

“Give us the bread we need for today”. Though this could also be translated “Give us the bread we need for tomorrow.”

“Forgive our sins, for we forgive all who are indebted to us.”

And “Do not bring us into sin’s temptation.” Another way to say this is “do not bring us to a time of trial or testing.”

That’s it, five little petitions. Depending on how you translate the petition for bread, one or two of them are for today and the rest are for the future. They are about how we are to live today and about the end times when God’s kingdom comes.

We pray God’s name will be sanctified throughout all creation. In a time when people of the earth prayed to a Parthenon of gods, we pray that the name of the Lord be made holy. In a time when people put so much before the praise and worship of the one true God; we are called to pray for a time when God’s name alone stands before us holy and as pure as light. Whether it be the gods of the Greeks or Romans; or some other philosophy or empty deceit sprouting from human tradition that Paul warns us about in Colossians; we are called to pray for a time when God’s name alone stands before us holy.

Bread was the most basic food of the ancient Israelites. Asking for daily bread harkens us back to the days of the Exodus when God provided manna as the daily bread for the nation. The people were told to gather as much as they needed, and no more, because they were to depend upon the Lord for their daily bread. Everything that’s old is new again when God provides daily bread for the people.

As for the future, in God’s kingdom is all of the bread we will need for tomorrow, in God’s coming kingdom we will never be hungry again. Still we must remember that the bread Jesus refers to is not some frilly loaf from a specialty baker. It’s more like a flatbread, pita or tortilla than a fancy foccacia. Our daily bread is no sundried tomato basil dill herb concoction, but with this simple bread we will never be hungry again.

Forgiveness is, in its own way, bread for the soul, without it we cannot live. What’s unusual about this petition is that we ask for forgiveness because “we forgive all being indebted to us.” In this prayer, we ask God to give us what we have already given others. This is possible if we could fully forgive another in the sinful world we live in, but we know this is impossible. This is only possible in God’s kingdom, where we share in God’s grace and receive God’s good gifts, including forgiveness. So today our duty is not just to forgive, it is to keep forgiving.

Finally we pray not to be lead into temptation. On the way to the kingdom, the ancient Jews faced many trials and temptations, many of them coming from the many gods (that with a lower case “g”) of the ancient world. Temptations on the road to the kingdom distract us from the true goal of holy lives devoted to God, and so we pray not to be distracted.

Thank God that Jesus answers this question directly. The world is used to the Rabbi answering questions with other questions like the Lawyer’s questions and answers with the story of the Good Samaritan. So when Jesus answers this question directly, we should rejoice, a straight answer to a straight question.

Of course, being the disciples of Jesus, we know that nothing is as simple as we would like it to be, we should be alert for the other shoe to drop. We need to be ready to consider the deeper implications of what Jesus has said.

When we force the gospel to become law, and when law is applied to the practice of prayer; our confession, our praise, our supplications, our intercessions become formulas we use to reach God. When we use formulas, we end up creating prayers that are “right” and prayers that are “wrong.” The words of Christ are more than a roadmap to God; they are the very words of God. The Lord’s Prayer is an important prayer, but there is more to it than that. These are very good words, but they are not magic words.

Famed pastor and preacher William Sloane Coffin talks about advice he received from his preaching professor from seminary. One of this professor’s teachings that stuck with Coffin is “Does this preacher describe God or offer God?” Describing the ultimately mysterious absolutely different Lord our God is a vanity exercise. There is no way that we can truly answer the question “Who is God?” so it is up to the preacher to offer God’s presence, testifying to the truth in Jesus Christ.[1]

To explain “The Lord’s Prayer” like I have so far is to describe God, it may have a place, but in the end it is little more than mental gymnastics. I might have a point or two along the way that might be helpful for our walk with God, and in the end it comes up lacking. It’s all fact and no truth. It’s all godly formula without Godly presence. It’s what made me a trivia expert. It’s not what makes us good disciples.

We are called to pray in reverence and in love to God the Father who loves us first. We pray to the Lord who loves us more than we can love God, one another, and ourselves. This prayer reminds us of the faith and glory of the Lord our God. This prayer reminds us that our God is the loving father of us all.

This is especially true for those who did not have good fathers. The Lord that loves us more than we could ever hope or imagine is the good Father we have longed for all of our lives. The Lord is the Father we have needed all of our lives. This prayer introduces us to a new relationship with the Lord our God.

This prayer is an introduction to a loving relationship with our Holy Father. As Jesus reveals in the Lord’s Prayer, God is the father whose name alone is holy. God is the father whose kingdom is greater even than God’s own good creation. God is the father who feeds. God is the father who forgives. God is the father who encourages and empowers us forgive others. God is the father who helps us seek eternal life, not a life of temptation. This is the relationship with our God and with God’s good creation we are called to seek though prayer. It is only through a right relationship with God that we can seek a right relationship with others.

The story at the end of our reading helps us understand this. The neighbor didn’t respond to the friend in need out of the goodness of his heart. He responded to his neighbor’s shameless persistence and out of what he feared his other neighbors would think if he had denied hospitality to another. He acted out of obligation not grace. Through a right relationship with our Lord we can begin to imagine the God who acts out of perfect loving faithfulness.

We look to the future of God’s kingdom while we live in the world today. The Lord’s Prayer is for today and for tomorrow. It’s a prayer for now, and prayer for what is not yet; and it can be tough as nails to pray.

We are called to pray “Our Father in heaven,” but fail to embrace all people as God’s children.

We are called to pray, “Your kingdom come,” without working for the kingdom on earth.

We are called to pray for our daily bread but we see it as our due for our daily work, not recognizing it as God’s good gift to the world.

We are called to pray for forgiveness for ourselves, but we fail to offer pardon to others.

We plead not to be led by God into times of trial, but walk willingly into temptations we find on our own.

We tend to honor God with our lips, but fail to honor God with our lives.[2]

We pray as we are taught, but with this prayer we are called to a way of life we don’t often live up to. This kingdom of God, far from the conditions we live in on any kind of permanence, is one that we can live in for moments at a time.

When we pray for the kingdom to come, we pray with an eye to when Jesus comes again. In the meantime, we are called to act as if the kingdom has come. Doing this, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus in the way that he walked the earth. This is like a lightening strike. It doesn’t last long, it happens in the blink of an eye. But when it happens, it comes with a thunder that announces its arrival. And the place where the lightening strikes is never quite the same.

This question, how should we pray, is as old as humanity. From the moment we sensed, from the moment we knew there was a presence more powerful than us; prayer has been a part of life. Sometimes prayer has involved blood sacrifice and others a sacrifice of praise. Sometimes it has involved memorized words recited by rote, sometimes it’s spontaneously lifted in the spirit of the moment. Sometimes it is in the language of the priests, sometimes in the language of the people, and sometimes in the language of the angels. The question of how to pray is so good that it was asked by Jesus’ disciples.

More important than the words of prayer; Jesus teaches us how to be disciples. Jesus teaches us about developing the relationship he wants us to have with our Lord through prayer. Through prayer Jesus teaches us about the relationship he wants us to have with one another, and just as much, Jesus teaches us about the relationship he wants us to have with ourselves. Luke gives us this reassurance of God’s faithful nature, and there is no better expert on God the Father than God the Son.

[1] Coffin, William Sloane, “The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin, The Riverside Years” Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. From Martin E. Marty’s introduction, pages xxvii-xxviii.
[2] This section is based on a Prayer of Confession found in Homiletics Magazine, online version, http://homileticsonline.com/subscribe.printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=93000008 accessed June 11, 2007

Telling God What To Do, Part II

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-15
Luke 11:1-15

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

There’s an old saying: there’s no such thing as a stupid question. But did you know that this question has a corollary: there’s no such thing as a stupid question, but there are plenty of stupid answers. Last week I ended with a simple question, how should we pray? I have heard some pretty stupid answers to this question. And if pressed, I am sure that I have given my share of pretty stupid answers to it too.

This question, how should we pray, is as old as humanity. From the moment we sensed, from the moment we knew there was a presence more powerful than us prayer of one form or another has been a part of life. Sometimes the answer has involved blood sacrifice—both animal and human, sometimes a sacrifice of praise. Sometimes it has involved memorized prayer recited by rote, sometimes spontaneous prayer lifted in the moment. Sometimes it is in the language of the priests, sometimes in the language of the people, and sometimes in the language of the angels. This is such a good question, it was asked by Jesus’ disciples.

In ancient Judea, it was common for Rabbis to teach their disciples how to pray. Based on what the unnamed disciple requested, John must have taught his disciples to pray a certain way. So if John can teach his disciples to pray, surely Jesus could teach his disciples to pray too. Teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus gives us five simple petitions:

“Hallowed be,” or “make holy the name of the Father.”

“The Father’s Kingdom come.”

“Give us the bread we need for today”. Though this could also be translated “Give us the bread we need for tomorrow.”

“Forgive our sins, for we forgive all who are indebted to us.”

And “Do not bring us into sin’s temptation.” Another way to say this is “do not bring us to a time of trial or testing.”

That’s it, five little petitions. Two or three of them (depending on how you translate the petition for bread) deal with the future, the end times when God’s kingdom comes.

In this time God’s name will be sanctified throughout the cosmos. In a time when people of the earth prayed to a Parthenon of gods, we pray that the name of the Lord alone be made holy. In a time when people put so much before the praise and worship of the one true God, whether it be nationalism, or economics, or some other thing, we are called to pray for a time when God’s name alone stands before us holy and as pure as light.

We pray the Father’s kingdom come. This part is a little tough, not everyone has good fathers, shadowing the view of a heavenly Father. When appearing before the Presbytery of Arkansas’ Committee on Preparation for Ministry I called the first person of the Trinity “Father” much to the chagrin of some of the members. They asked me if I thought it was appropriate to use paternal images in a world where not all fathers are present, much less good.

I know people who do not have good fathers, so imagining God as a good father is difficult for some. This leaves two choices; one is to find another name for “God the Father.” Any of you who followed last year’s General Assembly in Birmingham know the donnybrook that followed the introduction and reception of the report on this very issue. The report wasn’t even accepted, it was just received, and the fallout hasn’t ended yet. So while other images of the first person of the Trinity have value and validity, it is dangerous ground to tread, the Presbyterian equivalent of theological quicksand.

The other choice, and to me a more productive choice, is to rehabilitate the image of fatherhood through God’s fatherly presence. We have to learn that in prayer “we must ask for a response and expect that God will respond in a way above and beyond our human experiences with one another.”[1] We have to learn that God is a father who is better than our fathers have been and could ever be. In this turn we are called to be the children of God, children who follow our heavenly father in ways we could never follow our earthly fathers.

In one part of Jesus’ explanation he notes that if we were parents of a child asking for a gift, we would give good gifts. We would never give a snake instead of a fish or a scorpion instead of an egg. Even though we are evil, we know better than that. This whole “evil” word takes a beating, we are bound to hope and pray something like “yeah, we have a sinful nature, but do you have to say evil?” There is some conjecture that Jesus was exaggerating to make a point—evil is a harsh word and he intended to make a sharp comparison. Then again, compared to the Good Father, our Father in Heaven, we cannot be “good.”

We should note that the neighbor did not respond to the friend in need out of the goodness of his heart, he responded to his neighbor’s shameless persistence and out of what he feared his other neighbors would think of him if he had denied hospitality to another. He acted out of obligation, not goodness, so imagine the action of the Lord our God who acts out of perfect loving goodness.

In God’s kingdom is all of the bread we will need for tomorrow, in God’s coming kingdom we will never be hungry again. Still we must remember that the bread Jesus refers to is not some frilly loaf from a specialty baker. It’s more like a flatbread pita or tortilla than a fancy foccacia. No sundried tomato basil dill herb concoction. But with this simple bread, we will never be hungry again.

The other three petitions (again, depending on how you translate the petition for bread) deal with our most basic daily needs, bread, forgiveness, and (in a word) protection.

Bread was the most basic food made by the ancient Israelites. Asking for daily bread harkens us back to the days of the exodus when God provided the daily bread of manna for the nation. Every day, the people were told to gather as much as they needed, and no more, because they were to depend upon the Lord for their daily bread. The only exception to this was the day before the Sabbath when they were to gather two days worth, bread both for today and for tomorrow, since no work was to be done on the Sabbath. Everything that’s old is new again when God again provides daily bread for the people.

Forgiveness is, in its own way, bread for the soul, without it we cannot live. What’s unusual about this petition is that we ask for forgiveness “for we forgive all being indebted to us.” This looks like we ask God to give us what we have all ready given others. This would be true if we assumed we could fully forgive another in the sinful world we live in, but we know this is impossible. This is only possible in God’s kingdom, where we share in God’s good grace and receive God’s good gifts, including forgiveness.

Finally we pray not to be lead into temptation. On the way to the kingdom, the ancient Jews faced many trials and temptations, many of them coming from the many gods (that with a lower case “g”) of the ancient world. Temptations on the road to the kingdom distract us from the true goal of our lives in the Lord, and so we pray not to be distracted.

We look to the future of God’s kingdom while we live in the world today. Really there is nothing terribly complicated about this prayer. It’s a prayer for today and a prayer for tomorrow. A prayer for now, and prayer for what is not yet.

This can be a difficult prayer though.

We are called to pray “Our Father in heaven,” but fail to embrace all people as his children.

We are called to pray, “Your kingdom come,” without working for the kingdom on earth.

We are called to pray for our daily bread but do not recognize it as God’s good gift to the world.

We are called to pray for forgiveness for ourselves, but we fail to offer pardon to others.

We plead not to be led by God into times of trial, but walk willingly into temptations we find on our own.

We tend to honor God with our lips, but fail to honor God with our lives.[2]

We pray as we are taught, but with this prayer we are called to a way of life we often do not live up to. This kingdom of heaven, far from the condition we live in on any kind of permanence, is one still that we can live in for moments at a time.

I was talking on the phone with Rev. Lieu Smith[3] on Thursday and he was taking about working at the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank the previous day. He told me that on Wednesday, a fifty-one families came into the food bank seeking assistance. Fifty-one families, somewhere in the neighborhood of two-hundred to two-hundred-and-fifty people were served that day. Lieu estimated they distributed 2,000 pounds of canned food and another 4,000 pounds of commodities. Three tons of food left the food bank that day.

Lieu also told me that about 100 backpacks, almost 30% of the inventory left the food bank in the hands of children that day. The head of the food bank told Lieu she wished “the Presbyterians had been on hand to see the smiles on the faces of the children as they received their backpacks and school supplies.”

When we pray for the kingdom to come, we pray with an eye to when Jesus comes again. In the meantime, we are called to act in a way as if the kingdom has come. Doing this, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus in the way that he walked the earth. This is like lightening striking. It doesn’t last long, it happens in the blink of an eye. But when it happens, it comes with a thunder that announces its arrival. And the place where the lightening strikes is never quite the same.

When through the grace and bounty of the Lord we supply three-hundred-and-forty back packs of school supplies, we participate in the coming of the kingdom. We donated over a quarter-ton of goods to the inbreaking of the kingdom of heaven. Every smile on every child’s face, every bit of learning helped along by this effort, every dollar left in the pocket of an impoverished parent not spent on school supplies is a bolt of lightening striking from the kingdom of God for the kingdom of God. And the rumble of its thunder will be heard here in Berryville and in the kingdom for ages to come.

In the end, Luke gives us reassurance of God’s faithful nature. We are told to ask and it will be given; we are told to seek and we will find; we are told to knock and it will be opened, but the prayer makes it clear that we must ask and seek and knock in obedience to the five petitions. This is what Jesus tells us to pray.

So here we are again, we are telling God what to do. Being faithful servants of the one true Lord requires we pray. We are to pray in reverence and in love to a Father who loves us first. We are called to pray for our daily needs and for the coming of the kingdom. So when we pray, when we pray in accord with the Lord’s Prayer are we really telling God what to do? In a way we are, but when we are in accord with the Lord, we are praying in obedience to what the Lord wants for us for today and forever. Let God tell us what to do, and let us pray that God may do it through us.

There are no stupid questions. And I pray, by the grace of God, this isn’t a stupid answer.

[1] Douglas Strome, Joy, “Living by the Word, Prayer power,” Christian Century. vol 124, no 14, July 10,2007, page 19.
[2] This section is based on a Prayer of Confession found in Homiletics Magazine, online version, http://homileticsonline.com/subscribe.printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=93000008 accessed June 11, 2007
[3] Lieu is the Pastor of the Community of Christ church in Berryville, Arkansas and very active in the Berryville Ministerial Alliance and the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank of the Ozarks. This information was relayed in a phone conversation on Thursday July 26, 2007.